I saw me second ‘lifer’ or new bird of the month, when I spotted a male brush bronze wing by the side of Forest Road at Anglesea Heath.
I put my camera up to take a photo but it flew off, but I got a great view of the beautiful ‘chestnut’ feather colours as it disappeared.
I drove to Anglesea again to see if I could spot an owlet nightjar (unsuccessfully as always), but I did see a white morph (form) of a grey goshawk around Spring Creek in Bellbrae.
The white morph grey goshawk is white all over and is often known as the white goshawk. This goshawk is found in the more open forests of northwestern Australia and coastal Victoria and is the only form found in Tasmania.
In Victoria the white morph grey goshawk is found in good numbers around the Otway Ranges. It’s always great to spot a grey goshawk as I haven’t seen many of them around, and even better to achieve a photo.
I went to the farm in Wallington one Saturday morning to do a bird survey and the highlights were spotting a pair of white-bellied sea-eagles, five common greenshanks, 22 black-winged stilts and several flame robins. I felt so privileged to walk around such a beautiful property.
I’ve spent a few hours over the last few weeks trying to photograph some of the endangered swift parrots that have been spotted around Woodlands and Old Ocean Grove.
I have failed dismally to achieve a photo (although I did see a few swift parrots high up in a gum tree).
While looking for ‘swifties’ I did see hundreds of musk and rainbow Lorikeets, which was lovely. I also discovered a natural bird bath in a yellow gum in Yellow Gum’s Estate, and there were plenty of musk lorikeets helping themselves to a splash.
I also watched at least 30 noisy miners starting WWIII in someone’s front garden. I couldn’t believe the noise that so many noisy miners made when in such large numbers. It was deafening.
I received a lovely email from Carole, who is the convener of Bellarine Birdlife Group.
Carole and her bird watching pal Charmian have been observing the pink-eared ducks at Lake Lorne and McLeods Waterholes and have noticed the pink ears doing some synchronised swimming.
The ducks form groups of anything from a pair to 20 and swim round and round – note the swirl of the water. Carole presumes that this assists in feeding on aquatic organisms.
Carole stated that this behaviour is described in The Australian Bird Guide on page 174. Apparently they also swim in a V-shape as well though Carole has never seen this.
Pink-eared ducks are really unusual looking birds and I’ve never seen them swirling around in circles, so I must take a trip to Lake Lorne and check them out.
I also received an email from Kevin, who spotted a pair of wedge-tailed eagles near Inverleigh. It’s wonderful to capture a photo of one Wedgie, let alone two.
I also received an email from Susie, who lives in old Ocean Grove. She has an unusual bird in her garden that she would like me to help her identify, but unfortunately the bird is very camera shy, and it even swooped at her when she tried to take a photo. I hope Susie has some luck soon, so I can see this swooping pretty bird for myself.
